Many types of changeable display devices including signs for many purposes are known in the prior art. Some such devices are mechanical or electro-mechanical while others are entirely electronic in terms of operation. The prior art devices vary greatly in their cost and in their suitability for particular applications or uses. Clearly, a retail store owner cannot afford to install a sign or changeable exhibitor which costs many thousands of dollars. Other less expensive exhibitors, on the other hand, may lack the exhibiting capability which a given user requires.
With the above in mind, an objective of the present invention is to provide a changeable exhibitor which is suitable for a variety of applications in the displaying of prices for retail products, such as gasoline sold at filling stations to retail customers.
The exhibitor which is provided by the invention is versatile in its capability, is simplified and convenient to operate. It takes advantage of gravity in the assisting or biasing of its movable components and its operation is mechanical, without loss of capability attributed normally to electrical exhibitors which are impractical due to high cost for many applications.
The present exhibitor is ideally suited for remote mechanical control but may also be controlled in near proximity to its changeable displays. The gravity-biased manual control devices of the exhibitor may, in some cases, be powered in their movements by electrical or other power means.
In its simplest essence, the exhibitor forming the subject matter of the invention is embodied in a display unit which may be elevated or placed near ground level, in some cases. The display unit includes groups of exhibitor panels or plates which are adapted to move slidingly and in guided relationship in closely adjacent substantially vertical planes while being biased by gravity. Each display panel is connected to a flexible guided suspension element whose movement in one direction against gravity elevates that particular panel as a part of the formation of particular indicia requiring display.
Coded readily interchangeable cards engaged in movable card holders within a controller housing are displaced manually or by power means to move selected suspension elements while other elements of a particular group of display panels remain stationary under the biasing influence of gravity. The suspension elements which are thus moved cause shifting of the sliding display panels to produce required changes in displayed indicia whether numeric or otherwise. Each display panel suspension element carries a detached enlargement, such as a bead. Each coded card has slots which receive the suspension elements and certain of the slots have enlarged passages which enable the beads to pass through the coded card when the latter is displaced. Such beads are not moved by the card. Other card slots which do not possess enlarged passages engage the beads of preselected suspension elements to move such elements with their attached shiftable display panels to produce required displayed indicia changes on the display panel.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.